CPM gives Achuthanandan a warning, denies him seat in party's state committee

Bengaluru, Jan. 9 -- The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, has issued a warning to its founding member and senior-most national leader V.S. Achuthanandan for breaching party discipline. The decision was made at a a central committee meeting over the weekend in Thiruvananthapuram.
"The central committee approved the report of the PB (politburo) committee on Kerala. It warned comrade V.S. Achuthanandan about the violation of party norms pinpointed in the report and asked him to abide by the organizational norms and discipline of the party," read a note discussed in the meet, seen by Mint.
The central committee is the highest decisionmaking body of the party.
The meeting also decided to deny a regular seat to 94-year-old Achuthanandan in the party's state committee, admitting him as a special invitee instead. A special invitee can speak at the state committee meeting but cannot vote.
Achuthanandan met CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday morning and expressed his wish to be reinducted into the state committee, said a senior leader of the party on the phone, who did not wish to be identified. Mint could not reach Achuthanandan over the phone.
The case against Achuthanandan dates to almost two years ago and is known to be a flashpoint in the history of two warring factions within the CPM's Kerala unit-one led by Achuthanandan and the other by then party secretary and now Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
During a state conference of the party in Alappuzha in 2015, the Vijayan faction, with the backing of then state leadership, came under a targeted political attack by Achuthanandan.
The party appointed a politburo committee to probe the matter and downgraded Achuthanandan from the state committee temporarily. This resulted in him walking out of the Alappuzha meet, prompting speculation about him breaking away from the party.